By The Times/Ledger
BAYSIDE – A fire broke out Feb. 16 in a private garage in an apartment complex just off 224th Street and 67th Avenue. No one was injured in the blaze.
A Fire Department official on the scene said a car apparently was smoking and the owner drove it into his garage to try to fix it. Instead the car fire quickly spread to several surrounding garages, he said.
Mary Dempsey said she stored family heirlooms in the garage, which is located beneath her mother-in-law's apartment. She said years of personal belonging were destroyed by the fire.
College Pt. McDonald's robbed
COLLEGE POINT – The McDonald's at 15-16 College Point Blvd. was robbed of $4,000 Monday at 11:30 a.m., said Officer Gary Cillo, a Police Department spokesman.
The officer said the burglars gained entry to the restaurant by breaking in through a second floor wall and then busting through a wall leading to the kitchen. Cillo said that once they were in the kitchen, the burglars cut a hole in the back of the safe and stole the money.
He said the burglars circumvented the alarm by cutting the telephone wires.
There were no arrests and the incident is under investigation, said the NYPD.
Man suffers head trauma, after falling on No. 7 tracks
FLUSHING – Emergency Service Units rescued a man who fell on the No. 7 line tracks at Main Street station last Thursday at 2 p.m., said Detective Joseph Pentangelo, a Police Department spokesman.
He said the victim suffered a head trauma and was in critical condition at New York Hospital Medical Center of Queens. According to the NYPD, the man was not hit by the train and was not pushed.
Bellerose vending machine firm robbed by masked men
BELLEROSE – The Answer Vending Machine Corporation at 251-57 Jamaica Ave. was robbed last Thursday at 8:30 p.m. by three armed men wearing black ski masks, said the New York Police Department.
The NYPD said the owner, Larry Bono, was ordered to open the safe and the money room, while two other employees in the building were bound and tied up with duct tape. The Police said the robbers took more than $30,000.
There were no injuries or property damage, and Detective Kim Andrews of the 105th Precinct was investigating the incident.
Gary Johnson sentenced to life in Corona killings
KEW GARDENS- Gary Johnson, 25, was sentenced to 50 years to life in State Supreme Court Tuesday for the double murder of a check-cashing clerk and an off-duty police officer back in December 1996 in Corona, the Queens district attorney's office said.
In December Johnson was convicted in the murders of Ira Epstein of Douglaston, who owned the check-cashing business, and Officer James Davis of Jamaica, who was moonlighting as a guard at the store to make extra money for Christmas.
Johnson was the second of five defendants charged in the early morning robbery and double murder which took place in Epstein's check-cashing store at 94-21 Astoria Blvd.
Earlier in 1999, George Bell was convicted of murder in the first degree for the killings and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Teens charged with No. 7 line robbery
FLUSHING – The police arrested a gang of six teenagers on robbery charges Friday at 2 p.m., said Officer Valerie St. Rose, a Police Department spokeswoman.
After canvassing the Willets Point station area the police arrested Tyrell Hutchinson, 17, of 41-02 12th St. in Long Island City; Chibuzo Madu, 17, of 119-40 179th St. in Jamaica; Curtis Beckett, 18, of 188-41 Quencer Rd. in St. Albans; Alin Fridie, 16, of 211-06 75th Ave. in Hollis Hill; Kaleek Gibbs, 17, of 108-22 167th St. in Jamaica; and a 15-year-old, said the NYPD.
She said the group was suspected of robbing several people Thursday at 3 p.m. on a middle car of the No. 7 line in between Main Street station and the Willets Point stop, where the teens exited the train.
Members of the gang, brandishing a gun, approached three males on the train and told them to hand over their money, she said. The gang of teens stole two portable radios, a book bag and a jacket.
St. Rose said the teens are charged with robbery, criminal ? possession of a weapon and menacing.
Queens Village man stabbed in front of his home
QUEENS VILLAGE –
